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Suicide Squad: “New 52” Harley Quinn by DC Collectibles

Alrighty, folks, it’s time to wrap up my look at DC Collectibles’ Suicide Squad figures with the queen of mayhem Harley Quinn. In case you’re just joining us, I’ve already looked at Captain Boomerang and Deadshot and Harley here is going to finish off the trio. It’s been a long week for me and I’ve still got two more days of drudgery before vacation kicks in, so let’s get right to it…

Harley comes in a window box with an extended back so it can hang on the pegs as well as sit on the shelf. The box is similar to what we’ve been getting all along since the days of DC Direct. It’s nothing special, there isn’t even a character blurb anywhere on it, but the dark deco and the bullet holes in the front at least make it more exciting than the utilitarian white boxes that my last bunch of Cover Girl statues came in. If nothing else the box does a nice job displaying the figure inside.

Out of the package and there she is in all her glory. It’s the “in” thing to hate all over Harley’s “New 52” look, but my thirty-some years of comic reading rarely ever included the Batman titles, and so the character never meant much to me until she appeared in Suicide Squad. Needless to say her current costume that strikes so many as blasphemy isn’t skewering any sacred cows for me. Either way it’s hard to deny that this is a great looking figure. The sculpt is exceptional and includes some wonderful little touches like the way her laced bodice is sculpted from a separate piece and laid over the figure. Her kneesocks are textured, the bullets are sculpted onto her belt, her throwing knives are sculpted onto her bodice, and I love the way the loose thigh straps for her holsters dangle down at her sides.

The portrait here is every bit as good as the rest of the figure. DCC went for a sweet and pretty look with sculpted hair falling over her face in all the right places. The clown collar really ties it all together. She’s so innocent looking that you wouldn’t expect her to tie you to a chair and make you wear her ex-boyfriend’s face like a mask while she makes out with you.

The paint here is nearly as good as the sculpt. There are a few minor blemishes of slop or bleeding, but they are indeed very minor. The fact that just about everything on the figure is sculpted as well as painted certainly helps it along. I really dig the red and blue used for her costume and it contrasts nicely with the soft pale plastic used for her skin. Some notable details include the individually painted bullets on her belt, her painted nail polish with a different color on each a hand, and the nearly immaculate paintwork on her face.

On the downside, articulation for Harley has taken a bit of a hit. It’s nothing to get too excited about, this is still an action figure, but the articulation below the waist is different from what we saw with the boys. Gone is the swivel in the waist and gone are the ball jointed hips. You get a regular T-crotch with swivels at the tops of the socks and hinged knees. That’s it. It’s rather disappointing, but not enough to ruin the figure for me. From the waist up what we get is more consistent with the rest of the line. The shoulders are ball jointed, the elbows are hinged, and there are swivels in the biceps and wrists. The neck appears to still be ball jointed, but there’s virtually no up and down movement available.

Of course, Harley needs her tools of mayhem and in this she doesn’t disappoint. First off, you get a pair of automatic pistols, which fit snugly into her functional holsters. The pistols look good and she can hold them fairly well, considering her hands were purposed for holding them as well as the hammer. The hammer is a simple piece, but the handle is firm and thankfully not very bendy.

I was mighty happy when DCC first revealed this trio of figures and even happier once I got them all in hand. Harley caps off this threesome quite nicely and is a truly fun and beautiful figure. Besides finally having some figures from what is currently my favorite DC comic, these releases also granted me a new appreciation for the kind of product DCC is going to be turning out this year and I’ve put in a lot of pre-orders because of it. The sculpting and paint on these have ranged from solid to pretty great and the new and improved articulation is especially welcome, even if Harley’s poseability wasn’t as good as the guys. Now, DCC, there’s no reason to stop here… there are at least a few more figures I’d really like to see produced from this comic, so get to it! And remember… Deluxe King Shark! Make it happen!!!

Count me in as one of the haters of this look. I’m giving it as much of a chance as I can by picking up her monthly ongoing. I’m buying it pretty much out of character loyalty at this point, though, because I don’t like the art or the story.

I didn’t know she was featured in a Suicide Squad book, too. Might have to switch to that book instead.

Great review as always. Figure definitely looks like a great addition for anyone who loves the character but doesn’t hate the outfit.

I actually like this Harley better than the old one that debuted in the Batman Animated series. There were a lot of things I loved about that series, but giving a homicidal clown like the Joker a gangster moll was not one of them. And I didn’t like that Queens accent at all. I think she fared much better when Paul Dini wrote her in Detective Comics pre-nu52 as a reformed villain, but not so much when she was in an abusive relationship.

I’m with you: nu52 Harley is pretty great. I’ve been enjoying the Suicide Squad, and I like her interplay with Deadshot especially. (Weirdly, it almost plays as, “What if Joker was a girl, and she was in love with Batman?”) Harley breaking free of Joker’s influence (and that dungeon of past Harleys) was probably the highlight of the series for me. I haven’t picked up the ongoing, though, since it looks like they rebooted her … and I liked original flavor nu52 Harley just fine.

And this statue? It looks great. I don’t collect superhero action figures, but the photos you got of Harley and her teammates at the Suicide Squad definitely have me droolin’. 🙂